Boeing and NASA will hold off on bringing the Starliner spacecraft and its crew back to Earth next week, the space agency announced Friday.
The spacecraft was supposed to undock from the International Space Station and head home on Tuesday, June 25, landing back on Earth on June 26.
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NASA says the decision removes timing conflicts with two spacewalks happening on Monday, June 24 and Tuesday, July 2. It also gives the mission team more time to review propulsion data to help manage small helium leaks observed during Starliner’s docking with the ISS.
Mission managers will look at dates after the spacewalks for an appropriate time to bring Starliner back.
In the meantime, the spacecraft’s two astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, are working on extra projects tied to NASA’s certification of Starliner, and helping with operations on the station.
Wilmore and Williams launched onboard Starliner earlier this month from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, the first time two astronauts rode the Boeing spacecraft to the ISS.
Starliner has been plagued with issues. Its initial unpiloted test flight in 2019 was derailed by software problems and communications glitches. A second uncrewed test flight was generally successful, but more problems were discovered after its return to Earth, CBS reported.
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